Generator of sustained electric waves or oscillations



M. LATOUR.

GENERATOR 0F SUSTAINED ELECTRIC WAVES 0R OSCILLATIONS.

APPucATwN FILED NOV. 25, 1916.

1,354,312. Patented Sept. 28, 1920.

ulll l Inventor: 77 ut/ Attarruaiz- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARIUS LATOUR, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

GENERATOR OF SUSTAINED ELECTRIC WAVES 0R OSGILLATION S.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 28, 1920.

Application filed November 25, 1916. Serial No. 133,391.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, MARIrJs LATOUR, a

citizen'of the Republic of France, residing use in the receiving'apparatus of the heterodyne or .beat system of wireless telcgraphy.

I Although the principle of this system has I been indicated some time ago,

it has only been possible to carry it into practice when it has been found possible to produce undamped oscillations with a local generator occupying only a small space and of irreproachable regularity of working.

Meissner suggested such a with three electrodes such as of de Forest.

A primary object of this invention is ,to provide a small local generator of low the audion power undamped waves for the purpose referred to, equivalent as regards simplicit in its construction and in its setting to wor to the Meissner generator. To this end I employ the metal-vapor tube with incandescent filament in-combination with an oscillating circuit. The invention has no object in view except that of applying this little local generator to the generation of lowpower undamped waves.

The new device operates well in practice for the very low intensities of oscillation that are required in the heterodyne system,

and provides a solution of the difliculty of generator by employing a suitable connection and a lamp lng must not be compared with that of a,

bulb but a separate metal plate serves as the anode.

The invention will be described with ref.- erence to the accompanying drawings but it is not limited to the precise arrangement described and illustrated.

Referring to the drawings the apparatus comprises a bulb l exhausted of air containing filament 2 made incandescent by means, as, for example, a source of current 3.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 there 1s 1placed inside and at the bottom of the bu b 1 a small body of mercury 4.

The filament 2 when incandescent acts as a cathode and the body of mercury 4 serves as an anode, the voltage of a source of current 5 being applied between the two electrodes 2 and 4, with the interposition of an impedance 6 which may be a resistance or inductance or a combination of both resistance nd inductance, I

It has been experimentally verified that thecharacteristic's of the discharge in the mercury vapor are, under these conditions, those of the arc, viz: that the voltage between the cathode and anode diminishes when the current increases, that is to say, the apparatus behaves like a negative resistance.

Sustained waves may therefore be obtained in branched circuit, comprising an inductance 7 and a capacity 8, as shown in the drawing.

Experience confirms the existence of these sustained waves for the most varied frequencies.

Instead of a body 4 of mercury the same results. may be obtained by arrangin in the bulb either a small amount of amal gam or metals emitting vapors for example calcium. In Fig. 2, 9 indicates this amalgam or other vapor emitting metal. It is necessary in this case to add to the generator an anode 41 having a function analogous to that of the plate in cathode generators of known type.

An important question in these mercury vapor lamps is to insure the constancy of the characteristics of the discharge. For this purpose, any suitable form may be given to the bulb and to the electrodes, and

the bulb may furthermore be heated externally, for the purpose of keeping all the volnine in which the discharge takes place ata constant temperature.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patentof the United States is 1. A generator of sustained waves of very low intensity for receiving in the heterodyne system of wireless telegraphy. comprising a vacuumized bulb, a vapor emitting metal within the bulb. anode and cathode wires passing into the bulb. a filament connecting the cathode wires within the bulb and a source of current connecting these wires without the bulb, and a source of continuous current and an oscillating circuit each connected between said anode and cathode wires.

2. A generator of sustained waves of very low intensity for receiving in the heterodyne system of wireless telegraphy, comprising a yacuumized bulb. metallic mercury within the bulb, anode and cathode wires passing into the bulb, a filament connecting the cathode wires within the bulb and a source of current connecting these wires without the bulb. and a source of continuous current and an oscillating circuit each connected between said anode and cathode wires.

3. A generator of sustained waves of very low intensity for receiving in the heterodyne system of wireless telegraphy. comprising a vacuumized bulb, mercury amalgam within the bulb. anode and cathode wires passing into the bulb. a filament connecting the cathode wires within the bulb and a source of current connecting these wires without the bulb, and a source of continuous current and an oscillating circuit each connected between said anode and cathode wires.

4. A generator of sustained waves of very low intensity for receiving in the heterodyne system of wireless telegraphy, comprising a vacuumized bulb. metallic mercury within the bulb, anode and cathode wires passing into the .bulb. the anode wire also entering the mercury in the bulb, a filament connecting the cathode wires within the bulb and asource of current connecting these wires without the bulb, and a source of continuous current and an oscillating circuit each connected between said anode and cathode wires.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MARIUS LATOUR.

\Vitnesses Ecosx FESTARIN, CHAS. P. PRESSLEY. 

